Fumbled (The Girls of Beachmont #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

her. Grace
smiled down at her daughter, who was in the middle of enjoying hearing her own
voice.
    “What about me?” I
asked, scooping the blond-haired cutie when she tried to run past me. “Where’s
Aunt Dani’s hug?”
    Cleo looked at me with
shock-filled eyes and I set her on the ground where she began looking around.
Her palms were facing up while she walked around pretending not to see me. It
was our game and she loved it.
    “AuDani! AuDani hug!
Whereyougo?”
    Mom started laughing and
Cleo kept up the charade.
    “Where is it, Cleo?” I
asked again.
    “I no-no,” she said with
a silly smile.
    “Is it…over there?” I
asked, pointing to the pantry door.
    Cleo ran over and tried
to open the door, but turned and shook her head when she didn’t get it opened.
    “What about over there?”
I asked, pointing to the couch, but she didn’t budge. “Is it,” I looked around
and saw Cleo’s face lit with the cutest smile, “here?”
    I squatted down and opened
my arms where my precious niece ran into them and wrapped her chubby little
arms around my neck. She placed a sloppy, wet kiss on my cheek and I set her
back on her feet.
    “She loves her Aunt
Dani,” Grace said, giving me a hug as Cleo ran between my parents.
    “Who wouldn’t love me?”
I joked. “I’m amazing!”
    Mom hoisted Cleo in her
arms and walked off with Dad to let her play outside. When Grace and I were
kids, they were always shoving us outside to run around in the yard and stay
there until the sun went down. Unfortunately, where Grace lives there is very
little yard to play in, so our parents make sure Cleo gets the full Mimi and
Papi experience.
    “Millie told me that
Nick ran into Philip the other night,” I said when our parents were gone.
    “Don’t even think of
getting back with that one,” she warned. “I never liked that guy.”
    “I know. Trust me, no
plans there. I’m so much better off without him.”
    “Agreed. We need to find
you someone who’s not so controlling. I don’t know what it was about him, but
Philip gave me the creeps,” she admitted.

 
    Philip and I had ended
dramatically—dramatic in that when I told him it was over I did it
outside, in the rain, on the sidewalk in front of a popular restaurant. He was
always so worried about appearances and I’d had enough. I hailed a cab and
jumped in, but not before he grabbed me by my upper arm and I swear there was
steam coming out of his ears.
    “We’ll finish this when we get back to my apartment,” he
seethed and then pushed me into the back seat.
    Luckily, someone saw and
pulled him away from the car, giving me time to slam the door shut and yell at
the cab driver to leave. Of course Philip wasn’t one to let things go, so he
called my place a few times and then took to calling Grace.

 
    “You know, you never
said anything to me about not liking like him, but I guess I always knew,” I
told my sister.
    We were close in so many
ways, but it was always hard for me to someone when I was defeated. Especially
when that someone was my sister, who I admired. And Philip had defeated me… For
nearly six months, I was a mess. His verbal abuse was bad, but apparently not
bad enough for me to leave. Fortunately, that changed when the physical abuse
started. Therapy was the only thing that had seemed to help me get my life
back.
    “You seemed happy and it
just wasn’t my place to say anything,” she admitted. “But I was damn glad to
hear it was over.”
    “Yeah, well, tell Millie
that. She was pushing for a Dani-Philip reunion. Hard. Trying to sell me on a
happily-ever-after because it’s worked out so well for her. But that’s not what
I’m looking for right now. I wish she could understand that.”
    “She just wants you to
be happy.”
    “Millie acts as if I
don’t go out, but there’s been a few dates. Let me tell you, Gracie, you are
lucky. It’s scary out there. Dating…no thank you. And then there’s the whole
apps thing to meet